Restaurant Feasibility Study in Montana

Montana's largest class, a modest national footprint

No Montana asset class borrows from SBA more often than full-service restaurants, at 1 of 39, but the state's 95 restaurant approvals worth $39.1 million from FY2017 to FY2026 rank only 47 of 54 among states, while a 0.77x location quotient shows restaurants weighing less in Montana lending than nationally. The Montana median of $250,000 is 0.91x the national full-service median. Neither the median nor either Montana outcome floor sits far enough from both Montana's all-class record and restaurants nationally to be called distinct on our screen.

A strong 504 share and local banks

SBA 504 carried 20 of Montana's 95 restaurant loans, a notable share for the class, spread across Big Sky Economic Development Corporation and Capital Matrix, Inc. with 7 each and Dakota Business Lending with 5. Montana restaurateurs often buy their buildings. Among 7(a) lenders, Glacier Bank has 12 loans worth $3.6 million, Bank of Bridger National Association 9, The Yellowstone Bank 8 worth $4.2 million, First Interstate Bank 7 and Stockman Bank of Montana 5. Franchises account for 5.3%. Montana loans in the middle half run from $80,000 to $681,000. Gallatin County leads with 23 approvals, then Yellowstone with 17 and Flathead with 13. FY2021 and FY2025 each brought 15 loans.

Outcomes

Montana restaurant cancellations ran to at least 6.5% of approvals in FY2017 to FY2024, 7.8% at the ceiling. Of the 54 Montana restaurants funded between FY2017 and FY2021, 1.9% have since been charged off, with 0.00% inside the first five years; the few Montana failures came late. All are floors.

A Montana restaurant feasibility study has to deal with seasonality above all. In Gallatin or Flathead County, it must model summer and ski-season visitor demand against quieter months; in Yellowstone County, it leans more on residents. It should weigh Montana covers and check averages, food cost and seasonal labour against a loan near $250,000, and show debt service coverage across a full year rather than the peak months. Where Big Sky Economic Development Corporation, Capital Matrix, Inc. or another 504 lender finances the building, the appraiser has to treat it as real estate another operator could reuse, because an empty restaurant building is worth what a buyer would pay for the shell.

No coding limitation is recorded for full-service restaurants in our data; the Montana figures follow each loan's industry code.